Railroad-advertiser and station-indicator.



O .0 m 2 .L c 0 d e t n e t a P L. H. SIMMONS.

RAILROAD ADVERTISER AND STATION INDICATOR.

(Application filed. Jan. 10, 1900.}

2 Sheets'$heet I.

(No Model.)

I W N m: NORRIS PETERS co, moraumn" WASHINGTON, u. c.

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEE H. SIMMONS, OF ROCKY MOUNT, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO ASHER AYERS, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

RAILROAD-ADVERTISER AND STATION-INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,809, dated October 2, 1900.

- Application filed January 10, 1900- Serial No. 949. (No modelJ To all ZUhOTIZ/ it mag concern:

Be it known that 1, LEE H. SIMMONS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hotel Woodard, Railroad street, Rocky Mount, in

the county of Edgecombe and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railroad- Advertisers and Station lndicators; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and- I0 exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to station-indicators and railroad-advertisers, and is more particularly adapted to be placed in steam-railroads or elevated cars.

One object of my invention is to provide a machine which will indicate the street or station at which the trainis about to stop and at the same time call the attention of the passengers to advertisements displayed directly beneath the name of the. street or station.

A further object of my invention is to provide an indicating andadvertising machine 2 5 for railroad-cars which is operated by means of the brake-rod of the car and which is not dependent for its operation upon any track devices or upon any complicated mechanism.

A further object of my invention is to provide a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser which carries aseries of attachable strips upon which are printed the names of the stations and advertising matter in place of the ordinary name-sheet. The advantages of this 5 feature of my invention can readily be seen, as the names of stations and advertisements can be attached and detached without unwinding the sheet or in any way interfering with the machine.

0 With these objects in view I have constructed a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser which is cheap to manufacture, durable because of its simplicity, and above all practicable and easy of operation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front view of my station-indicator and railroad-advertiser. Fig. 2 is a detail view of my locking device. of one of the main or winding rollers. Fig.

4 is a side elevation taken from the left of Fig. 3 is a detail view Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is the same view as Fig. 4, showing my indicator in a position for winding the sheet. Fig. 6 is a side View taken from the right of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a detail view of the adjustable pin 0.

Referring to the drawings by letters and numerals, A indicates the outer box or covering.

B B represent the winding-rollers, jour- I naled in the frame O.

D represents the toothed operating-wheel, which meshes with a gear -=wheel E of very much less diameter attached to the shaft F of the upper and main winding roller B. Said operating-wheel D is provided with pins G, mounted on its face, and a series of recesses H near its periphery for the purpose of receiving the spring-bolt I, said spring-bolt being carried in slots K K and provided with a spring L, which exerts a downward push on 71.. the spring-bolt I.

' M represents a cross lifting-lever pivoted to the spring-bolt I near its center. This lifting-lever M is operated by the verticallysliding bars N N, which are provided with slots n a, said slots 01. n being provided with adjustable pins 0 O for the purpose of engaging the lifting-lever M, (see Fig. 7,) the object and operation of which will be hereinafter fully described.

P P represent the spring-fingers, which are pivoted to and carried by the vertically-sliding bars N N and which engage the pins G on the operating-wheel D.

Q Q represent the arms which form the locking device for my indicator, said arms being provided with notches, as shown at q q.

R represents a locking-bolt'pivoted at r and provided with a locking-pin S.

bars N N are provided with arms T T, to which are secured the connecting-rods V V.

a a a are gear-wheels, a and a -being secured to the axles of the winding-rollers B B.

1), b and c are guide-rollers. 5

O is a metal rod which rests on the portion of the sheet between said guide-rollers b and b and is confined at its ends in vertical slots 01.

3 is a spring rocking lever attached to the I The lower parts of the vertically-sliding qobase of the frame and carrying a springfinger t, which engages and forces down the clapper 2. t

is the bell or gong, mounted on the base of the frame C directly beneath the lower winding-roller B.

The connecting-rods V V are provided with knee-joints at u and u and a slot a (J represents the car-floor, and 7 a small slot therein through which the rods V V pass.

8 8 are wheels journaled to the bracket 9 and depending from the bottom of car-floor 6, which wheels transform the lateral motion of the brake-rod into vertical motion, which operates the indicator.

8 and S are pins to which the rods V V are connected and which work in the slots a 9 is the connecting-rod, attached to one of the wheels 8 at one end and extending along under the car and adjustably attached to the brake-rod 10 by means of the clip 11, said clip being made of spring metal and formed to encircle the brake-rod 10, said clip being adjusted and attached to the connecting-rod 9 by means of an ordinary bolt and nut.

In place of the ordinary name-sheet I provide two belts 12 12, (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1,) to which I attach the name-strips 13 by means of anysuitable fastening. In this manner the strips are interchangeable and can be attached or detached without in any way interfering with the winding-rollers and without unwinding the sheet.

In Fig. 3 one of the main rollers Bis shown 5 .provided with grooves b b. The fastenings on the belt-s 12 12 are carried in these grooves b b, so as to reduce the thickness of the belt when wound around the rollers B B.

Having thus indicated and described the several parts of my invention, its operation is as follows: The clip 11 being attached to the brake-rod 10 between the cylinder and the car-wheels is moved to the right when the brakes are applied. The connecting-rod 9 being attached near the periphery of one of the wheels, slightly below its axle, turns the wheels 8 8 in a contrary direction to the hands of a watch. The rods V V being attached to the outer faces of said wheels, near their peripheries anda little to the right of their axle, are pushed upward by the turn of said wheels. One of these rods operates the indicator so as to wind the name -sheet in one direction, while the other operates the indicator so as .to wipd the name-sheet in the opposite direction. Now it can be readily seen that both rods cannot be pushed up at the same time, asI have provided a lock to obviate this, and, moreover, if both rods were pushed up at the same time the indicator would not operate, as the sheet would not wind one way or the other. Consequently in order to make my invention operative and in order to wind the sheet in either direction I have constructed the rods V V as follows: These rods are attached to the vertically-sliding bars N N at their upper ends and to the Wheels 8 8 at their lower ends. A short distance below their contact with the vertically-sliding bars N N they are provided with a knee-joint to, which allows the central members of the rods to bend in under the indicator. About midway of the rods they are provided with another knee-joiut to, which allows the lower members of the rods to bend in an opposite direction. At their lower ends they are provided with slots H2, in which the pins 8 and 8 move. When these rods V are in a rigid position, the upper part of the grooves a contact with the pins 25 and 8 but when the said rods are bent as shown in Fig. 1 the contact/is removed, and when the wheels 8 8 are turned the pins 8' and 8 move in the grooves a without exerting any upward push on the rods V V. When the name-sheet is desired to be wound up, the right-hand rod V is made rigid and the other one bent, and when the sheet is desired to be unwound and the names appear in the reverse order the left-hand rod V is made rigid and the other one bent. The spring rocking lever 3 is flattened at its forward end and extends out over both arms T T of the vertically-sliding bars. Consequently when either of the vertically-sliding bars is pushed upward the arm T engages the spring rocking lever 3 and carries it up with it. This causes the spring-finger 4 to engage and force down the clapper 2 and then suddenly release it, thus sounding the gong. The pin S, attached to the locking-bolt R, is then pushed over into the notch q of the other arm Q, forming a secure look, as shown in Fig. 2. The object of this is to prevent both of the verticallysliding bars N N from being pushed up at the same time. When the vertically-sliding barN is pushed up a snflicient distance, the springfinger P engages one of the pins G on the operating-wheel C, as shown in Fig. 5. At the same time the adjustable pin 0 engages the cross lifting-lever M and pushes it up, thus lifting the spring-bolt I out of the recess H, as shown in Fig. 5. The indicator is set in this manner when the air-brakes are applied, and as soon as the brakes are taken off and the brake-rod moves back again the wheels 8 S are turned in the opposite direction and exert a downward pull on the rod V and vertically-sliding bar N and the spring-finger P turns the operating-wheel, said wheel imparting'its motion to the winding-rollers and increasing it by means of the small gearwheel E, so that one-sixth of a revolution of the operating-wheel C will turn the windingrollers one-half or a full revolution, according to the relative size of the wheels. The spring-bolt I drops into the next recess and the operating-wheel stops with the name of station and advertising matter in their proper places. By this method it can be seen that it is impossible for the sheet to wind too far or not far enough.

Should it ever become necessary to operate the machine between stations,Il1ave provided a cord 15, attached to the upper end of the vertically-sliding barsN N,by means of which the indicator can be operated by hand.

In place of the ordinary name-sheet I have constructed two winding-straps (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) and namestrips which can be attached to said belts in any suitable manner, but preferably by fastenings such as those used on gloves. As these fasteners must necessarily be thicker than the belts and strips, I have provided the winding-rollers with a groove 1), so as to decrease as much as possible the thickness of the strips when wound up without decreasing the diameter of the winding-rollers.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new,and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1.. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser the combination of grooved windingrollers, the belts, the fastenings carried thereon, the name-strips adapted to engage said fastenings, said grooves in the windingrollers being for the purpose of carrying said fastenings, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser, the combination of the grooved winding-rollers, the toothed operating-wheel, the belts, provided with suitable fastenings, the name-strips adapted to be secured to said belts and operated by said operating-wheels, the vertically-sliding bars, provided with arms, the locking bolt, and lockingpin adapted to engage and lock said arms, substantially as described.

3. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser, the combination of the verticallysliding bars, the cross lifting-lever, the slots in said vertically-sliding bars,adjustable pins adapted to be carried in said slots, the arms forming the locking device, the locking-bolt, the locking-pin, and notches in said arms adapted to receive said locking-pin, substantially as described.

4. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser, the combination of the grooved winding-rollers, the belts'carried on said rollers, the namestrips carried on said belts, the toothed operating-wheel, the vertically-sliding bars, the locking-arms, the locking-bolt,

the locking-pin, and notches in said arms to receive said pin, substantially as described.

5. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser, the combination of the grooved winding-rollers, the belts adapted to be carried by said rollers,the name-strips adapted to be carried by said belts, the toothed operating-wheel adapted to move said belts, the verticallysliding bars, provided with spring-fingers, adapted to operate said operating-wheel, and provided with slots, carrying adjustable pins, the cross liftinglever adapted to be engaged by said pins, the spring-bolt, operated by said cross lifting-lever, and adapted to lock the toothed operating-wheel, the locking-arms, locking-bolt and locking-pin, adapted to lock said vertically-sliding bars, substantially as described.

6. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser, the combination of the verticallysliding bars, the connecting-rods, provided with knee-joints, the wheels adapted to operate said connecting-rods, another connecting-rod provided with an adjustable clip, and the brake-rod, all arranged substantially as described.

7. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser, the combination of the brake-rod of the car, the adjustable clip, the connectin rod secured to said clip, the Wheels turned by said connecting-rod, and adapted to operate the indicator by means of the connectingrods provided with slots and knee-joints, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

8. In a station-indicator and railroad-ad- 83 vertiser, the combination of a brake-rod, the adjustable clip, the connecting-rod secured to said clip, the wheels turned by said connecting-rod, the vertically-slidin g bars adapted to be operated by the connecting-rods, said connecting-rods being provided with grooves and knee-joints, a toothed operatingwheel adapted to be operated by said vertically-sliding bars, and an adjustable pin carried by said vertically-sliding bars, grooved \vindingrollers, adapted to be operated by said operating-wheel, belts adapted to be car- 'ried by said winding-rollers, name-strips adapted to be carried by said belts, and a locking device, all arranged substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

9. In a station-indicator and railroad-advertiser, the combination of the verticallysliding bars, provided with rooves for the purpose of carrying adjustable pins, a cross liftinglever adapted to be engaged by said pins, a cord attached to said vertically-sliding bars, for the purpose of operating the same by hand, and a locking device, all arranged substantially as and for the pn rposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEE H. SIMMONS.

Witnesses:

ASHER AYERS, HERBERT O. EMERY. 

